Actor and singer-songwriter James McEachin dies at 94
Veteran Hollywood actor and singer-songwriter James McEachin has died at the age of 94.
McEachin, who wrote and produced songs for Otis Redding before turning to acting to portray cops in his own NBC Mystery Movie series and in 18 of the popular Perry Mason telefilms, died on January 11 this year and was interred last month at Los Angeles National Cemetery, The Hollywood Reporter reported.
He appeared alongside Clint Eastwood in four movies— Coogan's Bluff (1968), Play Misty for Me (1971), Every Which Way But Loose (1978) and Sudden Impact (1983).
James McEachin was born on May 20, 1930, in Rennert, North Carolina, and raised in Hackensack, New Jersey. At 17, he joined the US Army in August 1947.
McEachin spent more than two years in Japan as part of his first three-year term, then re-enlisted for another three years. As a member of the 2nd Infantry Division, he was wounded in an ambush and left for dead before being rescued. (He was awarded both the Purple Heart and Silver Star in 2005.)
In 2002, McEachin played a liberal Supreme Court justice on First Monday, a short-lived CBS drama from Donald P Bellisario that starred James Garner and Joe Mantegna.
McEachin was appointed a US Army Reserve Ambassador in 2005 to spend time speaking with soldiers and veterans. A year later, he wrote, produced and starred (with David Huddleston, a castmate on Tenafly) in a 23-minute video called Old Glory that the military community embraced, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
His one-man play, Above the Call; Beyond the Duty, opened at the Kennedy Center in Washington in 2008 and played LA's Mark Taper Forum three years later. He portrayed Old Soldier, a character who "pries open tough issues left in the wake of battle, boldly confronting challenges that are facing those serving in our military today while reconciling the spirit of one who has killed in war."
McEachin also wrote several books, including 1996's Tell Me a Tale: A Novel of the Old South, 1997's Farewell to the Mockingbirds, 2000's Say Goodnight to the Boys in Blue and 2021's Swing Low My Sweet Chariot: The Ballad of Jimmy Mack, a memoir.
His wife, Lois, whom he married in 1960, died in 2017.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
an hour ago
- The National
Trump defends travel ban and says Egypt 'has things under control'
US President defends decision to exclude Egypt from travel ban that affects citizens of 12 countries
The National
an hour ago
- The National
Trump hosts Germany's Merz at White House to discuss Ukraine and tariffs
President Donald Trump hosted Germany's new leader Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House on Thursday, to discuss Ukraine and defence spending, as well as tariffs. Mr Merz, whose visit is partially aimed at convincing the US to continue supporting Kyiv, said Mr Trump would be a vital figure in bringing an end to the conflict. 'We both agree on this war and how terrible this war that is going on, and we are both looking for ways to stop it very soon,' Mr Merz said. 'And I told the President before we came in that he is the key person in the world who can really do that now by putting pressure on Russia.' The US President called Mr Merz a 'very good man to deal with'. The visit comes a day after Mr Trump held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which he said there would be no 'immediate peace' in the three-year-old war. It was a stark turnaround for the US President, who took office this year on a promise to swiftly end the war in Ukraine. He said that Mr Putin has vowed to retaliate after Kyiv unleashed a surprise drone offensive that hit Russian airfields across the country, taking out many heavy bombers and surveillance planes. Mr Trump is set to attend the Nato summit later this month, a meeting that is expected to be dominated by the war in Ukraine. The meetings will come shortly after Mr Trump is scheduled to attend the Group of Seven leaders' summit in Canada, where allies are also expected to discuss ways to end the conflict. Germany, the biggest economy in the EU, is eager to ease trade tension with the US after Mr Trump announced sweeping tariffs on the bloc on April 2. A 50 per cent levy on European goods is scheduled to take effect on July 9. 'We'll have a big trade deal,' Mr Trump said. 'I guess that will be mostly determined by the European Union, but you're a very big part of that.' During the meeting, Mr Trump also said the two leaders would discuss the roughly 45,000 US troops stationed in Germany. 'We have a lot of them, about 45,000, it's a lot of troops,' Mr Trump said. 'That's good economic development, they're highly paid troops and they spend a lot of money in Germany.'
The National
an hour ago
- The National
US judge schedules Lockerbie bombing suspect's trial for April 2026
The US judge overseeing the case of Lockerbie bombing suspect Abu Agila Mohammad Masud has set jury selection for April 20, 2026. Judge Dabney Friedrich acknowledged the ' complicated nature ' and 'voluminous discovery of evidence' in the case surrounding the 1988 attack that resulted in the explosion of a Pan Am flight and the deaths of 270 people in Scotland. Mr Masud, 73, limped into court and donned headphones to listen to the status conference in Arabic. He looked straight ahead for the whole proceedings, never glancing at victims' families, who took up several rows of court seats. He didn't appear to communicate with his court-appointed lawyer during proceedings. In 2023, Mr Masud pleaded not guilty in connection to one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in UK and US history. Only one other person, former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, has been convicted for the bombing. After his conviction in 2001, Megrahi spent seven years in a Scottish prison, but he was eventually released on compassionate grounds and died in Libya in 2012. In 2003, Libya claimed responsibility for the attack that brought down the plane. The US government filed charges against Mr Masud in 2020, but it took more than two years to extradite him from Libya. Mr Masud's health problems, lawyer changes and logistical problems have caused the trial planning to move at a snail's pace. A court transcript seen by The National show the methodical nature of the case. At least three depositions of foreign citizens will have to take place outside the US before the trial begins, according to the court transcript. Though specifics are not disclosed, ways of potentially dealing with Mr Masud's health problems are also discussed. His court-appointed lawyers have promised to provide updates about his medical condition to better prevent any delays. In court on Thursday, Judge Friedrich emphasised the need to stay on schedule. 'I want this to be aggressive,' she said, referring to trial planning dates and schedule preparations. Mr Masud's lawyer told the judge that although there is 'some disagreement' about the extent of his medical problems, both defence and prosecutors are on the same page about how to deal with it going forward. All 259 people on board the Pan Am flight died in the attack and 11 people were killed on the ground by falling debris on December 21, 1988, shortly after the plane took off from London bound for New York. Of the victims, 190 were US citizens, along with people from the UK and Argentina, India, South Africa and Spain, among others.
